Our Awful Situation

Archive for the ‘War’ Category

President George W Bush backs Israeli plan for strike on Iran

Posted by Charlie Kilo on July 13th, 2008

But tells the Israelis not to expect any help from the U.S. Guess where American (and world) anger will be directed when gas hits $6 a gallon after an Israeli strike on Iran. That’s right…at the Jews. Interesting:

President George W Bush has told the Israeli government that he may be prepared to approve a future military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities if negotiations with Tehran break down, according to a senior Pentagon official.

Despite the opposition of his own generals and widespread scepticism that America is ready to risk the military, political and economic consequences of an airborne strike on Iran, the president has given an “amber light” to an Israeli plan to attack Iran’s main nuclear sites with long-range bombing sorties, the official told The Sunday Times.

“Amber means get on with your preparations, stand by for immediate attack and tell us when you’re ready,” the official said. But the Israelis have also been told that they can expect no help from American forces and will not be able to use US military bases in Iraq for logistical support.

Nor is it certain that Bush’s amber light would ever turn to green without irrefutable evidence of lethal Iranian hostility. Tehran’s test launches of medium-range ballistic missiles last week were seen in Washington as provocative and poorly judged, but both the Pentagon and the CIA concluded that they did not represent an immediate threat of attack against Israeli or US targets.

Iran’s missiles are just for show

Posted by Charlie Kilo on July 10th, 2008

I’m not sure where to start with this:

Last week, former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul stunned no one in Washington when he said, “I hear members of Congress saying if we could only nuke them” as applied to Iran. According to Sahimi, even though the bipartisan resolutions “are not granting the Bush administration any authorization to stage military attacks on Iran, their language, however, is warlike”.

WAR IN NOVEMBER?

Posted by Charlie Kilo on July 8th, 2008

War with Iran coming in November:

War clouds continue to build in the epicenter. Last month in Rome, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed that the United States and Israel would soon be “annihilated,” language he had not used so explicitly since October 2005 when he promised to wipe Israel “off the map” and urged Muslims to “envision a world without the United States.” This week, his regime authorized a new series of Iranian war games. He ordered the digging of 320,000 graves to bury the enemies of Islam. He is calling for the unification of the Islamic world politically and economically, including the creation of a single currency.

Some lawmakers propose what’s already in the Constitution

Posted by patriot on July 8th, 2008

Why the need for redundant laws?

Former secretaries of state James Baker III and Warren Christopher say the next time the president goes to war, Congress should be required to say whether it agrees.

The co-chairmen of a bipartisan study group have proposed legislation that would require the president to consult lawmakers before initiating combat lasting longer than a week, except in cases of emergencies.

In turn, Congress would have to act within 30 days, either approving or disapproving of the action.

The plan, outlined by Baker and Christopher in an essay published Tuesday in The New York Times, would not necessarily prevent future debate on the so-called “war powers” issue.

Supreme Court restores habeas corpus, strikes down key part of Military Commissions Act

Posted by Charlie Kilo on June 13th, 2008

Glenn Greenwald’s commentary on yesterday’s Supreme Court victory:

In a major rebuke to the Bush administration’s theories of presidential power — and in an equally stinging rebuke to the bipartisan political class which has supported the Bush detention policies — the U.S. Supreme Court today, in a 5-4 decision (.pdf), declared Section 7 of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 unconstitutional. The Court struck down that section of the MCA because it purported to abolish the writ of habeas corpus — the means by which a detainee challenges his detention in a court — despite the fact that the Constitution permits suspension of that writ only “in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion.”

In Debate Over Permanent Bases In Iraq, U.S. Seeks Authorization For War In Iran

Posted by patriot on June 12th, 2008

Via Think Progress:

The ongoing negotiations between Iraqi leaders and the Bush administration over the future role of the military occupation “have turned into an increasingly acrimonious public debate.”

The Bush administration’s demand for 58 permanent bases in Iraq — a near doubling of the current 30 bases — are causing Iraqis to warn that the status of forces agreement would be “more abominable than the occupation.” The administration is reportedly holding hostage “some $50bn of Iraq’s money in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to pressure the Iraqi government into signing an agreement.”

The reason the White House is so hell-bent on signing a long-term agreement may have less to do with Iraq and more to do with Iran. According to press reports of the ongoing negotiations, the Bush administration is seeking the “power to determine if a hostile act from another country is aggression against Iraq.”

Afghanistan Unraveling

Posted by Charlie Kilo on June 11th, 2008

The forgotten war:

In the middle of a consuming presidential election, the American public is focused on the faltering economy first and the Iraq war second. So it’s easy to forget that there’s another, older war going on in Afghanistan — one that’s shown alarming signs of deterioration in recent months, according to many experts.

Obama vows to stop Iran from having nuclear arms

Posted by Charlie Kilo on June 4th, 2008

Wait…I thought this was George Bush III:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Wednesday Iran posed a serious threat in the Middle East and vowed to stop it from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

“The danger from Iran is grave, it is real, and my goal will be to eliminate this threat,” Obama said in a speech to a conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobby group.

“I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon - everything,” he said to a standing ovation.

Obama also vowed to vigorously support Israel’s right to defend itself and pledged an active effort to pursue a Middle East peace agreement in a broad speech on the region he delivered a day after clinching the Democratic presidential nomination.

“I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself in the United Nations and around the world,” Obama said.

Some of Obama’s critics have sought to undercut his support with Jewish voters by suggesting that he would be more inclined than the Bush administration and Republican presidential candidate John McCain to put pressure on Israel to make concessions in any peace negotiations.

Obama has been seeking to dispel that notion in campaign events that include the AIPAC speech and a forum with Jewish voters in Florida last month.

McCain has criticized Obama’s call for talks with Iran, a state Israeli leaders consider a threat to Israel’s security.

Soldiers using drop weapons to claim innocent deaths were justified

Posted by patriot on June 3rd, 2008

From the HuffPost:

Several soldiers who have returned from combat zones talk with the American News Project about what they say is the widespread practice of using “drop weapons” to cover up the killing of innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. We feature five veterans and current members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, plus retired Lieutenant Colonel Gary Solis, a Vietnam War veteran and legal scholar who taught “Law of War” at West Point. Watch the video from ANP below:

Bush ‘plans Iran air strike by August’

Posted by Charlie Kilo on May 27th, 2008

Yep…its coming:

The George W Bush administration plans to launch an air strike against Iran within the next two months, an informed source tells Asia Times Online, echoing other reports that have surfaced in the media in the United States recently.

Two key US senators briefed on the attack planned to go public with their opposition to the move, according to the source, but their projected New York Times op-ed piece has yet to appear.

The source, a retired US career diplomat and former assistant secretary of state still active in the foreign affairs community, speaking anonymously, said last week that that the US plans an air strike against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The air strike would target the headquarters of the IRGC’s elite Quds force. With an estimated strength of up to 90,000 fighters, the Quds’ stated mission is to spread Iran’s revolution of 1979 throughout the region.

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